Interior • Exterior

Greg Mrakich Painting Indianapolis: Repainting Trim When Oil-based Paint is Not an Option

In Indiana, as well as many other states, oil-based paint for residential use has been taken off the market primarily due to its impact on the environment. Over the past 20 years, the EPA kept changing the specs for oil-based paint to make it less harmful to the environment and people. However, in the process, it was rendered a lesser quality product. Eventually, water-based glosses and oil-based glosses became almost equal in finish appearance and durability. The big advantage to both professional painters and DIY-ERS is that water-based paint dries much quicker and easily cleans up with soap and water.

Water based paint has a hard time sticking to oil based paint. “Never put water over oil” was the rule. Since the oil-based paint molecule is much smaller than the water-based paint molecule, water-based paint cannot penetrate oil-based paint to bond with it. Additionally, water-based paint applied over oil-based paint can scratch off easy. It can also be accidentally scrubbed off with a paper towel when trying to remove scuff marks.

To repaint trim or any surface that was previously painted using oil-based paint, there are a few steps that need to be taken to assure good adhesion and wear:

Lightly sand the area that you will be painting with 120 grit sand paper.

Wipe down the sanded areas with a de-gloser like TSP or other like product.

Now apply a coat of 100% acrylic primer and let it dry overnight. There are ingredients in the acrylic (water-based) primer that will create a bond with a properly prepared surface. Those ingredients do not work in finish coats, and that is why there is not a finish coat that is a primer and paint in one for trim.

Now apply the first finish coat – after four hours, apply second finish coat

If you follow these steps and use a top of the line product, you will have a finish that will hold up as well as oil-based paint.